Last week Census reported that the number of cohabiting
couples jumped from 6.7 million in 2009 to 7.5 million in 2010. Why?

Census blamed the recession: “A higher percentage of
men in newly formed couples in 2010 did not work last year (24%) than men in
newly formed couples in 2009 (14%).”

Sounds
plausible. However, cohabitation has soared in good times and bad times by
an unbelievable 17-fold since 1960 when only 430,000 couples were
living together.

This is an issue for which clergy bear some
responsibility. It may be the greatest sin of the church. Clergy marry 86
percent of couples, yet few ask couples to move apart.

Scripture is clear. “Flee fornication,” Paul warns (I Cor. 7:18). What is
cohabitation but fornication raised to the 100th power?

The
outcome of sin can never be good.

As my
wife and I reported in our book, Living Together: Myths, Risks &
Answers, many couples live together to test the relationship for
marriage. Big mistake.

While two-thirds of couples who marry are living together, 1.4
million, what happened to the other 6 million? Most broke up, sadly
discovering that cohabitation is a trial divorce, not a trial marriage. Many
experience “premarital divorce” that is so painful, millions never do marry.

The number of never-married Americans has tripled from 21
million in 1970 to 63 million in 2008, six times population growth. Result:
the marriage rate fell by 51 percent.

However, couples who marry after living together, have better
marriages because they know what to expect, right? No. That’s a myth. A
Penn State study reports that such couples are 61 percent more likely to
divorce than those who remained apart, the Christian norm for 20 centuries.
Another Penn State study found that even living together for 30 days
diminshed the quality of the relationship.

Only about a tenth of cohabiting couples build a lifelong
marriage.

My question for pastors is simple: Why are you silent on this
issue? Why not use these numbers to make a case for remaining apart?

While few cohabiting couples are in church, their parents are
there, and don’t know what to say to adult children who want to cohabit.
Two-thirds of teens think cohabitation is a good idea. They must hear
evidence of its harm.

When cohabiting couples ask pastors to marry them, why not insist that they
move apart until the wedding? That’s the stand of Pastor Jeff Meyers of
Christ Lutheran Church in Overland Park, KS. When couples claim they can’t
afford to move apart, he replies, “Sue, we have widows in this church who
would love to have you move in until your wedding.”

Four out of five move apart, and not one woman asked for the name of a
widow! She would rather move home for several months or in with girl
friends.

Fortunately, there is a much better way for couples to test the
relationship. As Paul urged, “Test everything. Hold onto the good. Avoid
every kind of evil (I Thess 5:21-2). ”

Cohabitation IS evil. That’s what a 90 percent failure rate is, before or
after the wedding.

My wife and I have trained thousands of couples in healthy marriages to be
“Mentor Couples” for churches who help couples take a premarital inventory,
a detailed questionnaire, which asks them to respond to 150+ statements like
these:

I am concerned that my partner is more of a spender than I am.

When we are having a problem, my partner often refuses to talk about it.

Mentors can then react to exactly what the couple has said about themselves.
I might say,

“George,
if she asks a question and you don’t know what to say, don’t walk out of the
room. Ask her, “Can we talk about this after dinner?” That gives you time
to develop an answer.

Any couple married 20 years can offer that sort of wisdom or
common sense.

Thus, churches can help couples test their relationship
appropriately.

Furthermore, groups of churches can come together across
denominational lines, and require all couples getting married in that city
to take an inventory and be mentored. My wife and I have helped 10,000
clergy in 229 cities create a Community Marriage Policy with a conscious
goal to cut their divorce rate.

An independent study of the first 114 cities found that divorce
rates fell by 17.5% on average. Equally important, cohabitation rates fell
by one-third compared to similar cities in that state. Marriage rates are
rising.

If clergy cooperate, they can fight cohabitation and create a
new marriage culture.